City of Strings
by thatdamnedfool
Summary: "The rain hit him in a wave of cold. It felt good. Rain was the only thing that felt real in a city that told lies brighter than the billboards above." Link struggles to survive in a city where corruption is part of everyday life. But his life spins even faster when a case sends him face to face with the daughter of a city official.


City of Strings

Peering into the darkness behind the sheets of glass most would see a black expanse of nothing, a city getting ready to sleep. But Link saw a world on fire. Sheets of rain peeled away at the windscreen, giving distorted glimpses of the hellscape that lay behind. It made it difficult to think of a time, all those years ago, when he had looked at the towers of bricks and steel with wonder and hope.

"You goin' in or what Greenie," Groose grumbled spitting another olive seed against the windscreen. Link watched it drop into the orderly pile that had formed on the dashboard with disgust.

The paper was sandy beneath his fingertips as he pulled over the last page for the thousandth time, notes drilling into his head like the diggers outside his apartment that woke him up at 6:00am. He was starting to know more about these people than his own family.

Zelda: the daughter of Chief of Police, worked in a bar for some reason even though her life was made. Even had her own apartment. Quite different to most of the rich girls Link had come across. Hopefully she wasn't another airhead just looking for a chance to talk themselves for an hour.

She was close friends with the victim according to the owner. There was something about her that had kept Link digging all night. Each thing he unturned only made her more fascinating and the case of the disappearance of Miss Elizabeth Hulme was getting more interesting by the minute. He'd done his homework but it would be best to play his cool for as long as possible.

Link finally looked up at the sergeant, "Aren't you the leading detective? I thought I was just along to learn from the best."

"Less of that attitude," Groose smiled showing his buck teeth. "But you's right, this is all just a learning experience."

So far Link had learned more from his drunken preschool teacher. Groose was about as lazy as it came with the coppers here. Still if anything over the past five years on the force had taught him, there was always darker stuff to dig up.

The detective had really made an effort today, his red hair was slicked back with enough grease to cause an oil leak and he was wearing his best dirty shirt. Under Link stare he started to wipe away at a fresh coffee stain which made him look about as good as he probably smelled. All that was cute compared to the line of scars and bruises running along his knuckles, making them crack open like dry hot soil.

Groose tapped the wheel, "Now honestly Greenie I've enjoyed your questioning so far, really I have…"

 _"That's because it means you don't have to",_ Link wanted to say

"…But unfortunately I've got some high end business to do and this time the stakes are a little too high to be within a ballpark of a hotshot. I've got a career to think about and I don't need the chief's breath down my neck after tonight. Now I'm only saying this cause I like you a little Greenie, this is the chief's daughter, not the run of the mill pond scum we've been dealing with. If go the same way you've been going, she'll go crying to papa and you'll end up on your ass or worse."

The file notes drew Link's attention again even though he wasn't reading them anymore.

Groose grinned, "Agh what's the point. I could say don't go too far but I know when I get back to the department there'll be same damn big fireworks."

For a few moments Link stared at Groose's overly pleased face, slowly regretting all the decisions that had led him to here. Then he grabbed his badge and gun and took a plunge into the hell outside.

The rain hit him in a wave of cold. It felt good. Rain was the only thing that felt real in a city that told lies as bright as the billboards above. For a few moments he held to that feeling with his fingertips, remembering the life a long time ago on the ranch. He let it wash over him before Groose snapped him back into harsh reality.

"Remember kid, keep your cool!"

The door closed with a thunk and Link watched the red reverse lights as they sped off along the street disappearing into the maze of towers.

He turned up the collar of his jacket up keeping most of the cold away and looked up. The sky was dark as always, that golden light he had once remember now replaced by neon and glowing red two for one deals. His eyes lingered on a huge sign further down the sloping road, a woman's eyes staring back it him red lips mouthing words he couldn't hear. He ignored the message underneath and turned towards a coffee machine which churned up a chemical mess that replicated the smell well enough.

Link didn't even like the taste of coffee or the sensation he got when he drank it. There was just something about the smell that made even the rancid concoction between his fingers put him at ease.

Killing his thoughts he made his way down the alleyway, looking past the man wasting away to his side in a mess of wet cardboard and trash. Sure enough at the end the blinking lights of the " _Red Strings Club"_ shinned above a set of stairs.

As Link descended he controlled his breath and slowed his heart, calming himself like he practiced every time he tried to get to sleep. Doors slid around him and soon a calm song enveloped him.

The place was classy enough for the Brooks, red chairs and stools with a dim red light shining around the bar. In the end nothing like the dive bars the boys of the department spent their lonely evenings in. It was quiet enough too, probably a little too late for a place like this to be lively. The only customers seemed to be a couple who had gotten intimate in a booth in the far corner.

Link walked to the only other sign of life in the place, loosening his collar a little. The bar was shining clean, the bottles of liquor in the back shinning out in an assortment of brilliant colours.

The girl behind the bar smiled as he approached, "Welcome to the Red Strings Club, what can I get you sir?"

"I have a few questions about a girl who worked here. You know an Elizabeth Hulme?" Link held up his badge.

She frowned and raised her eyebrows at him, "Oh it's you?"

"Were you looking for someone else to ask you questions on a classified case?" Link took a seat at the bar and stared across trying to get an early read.

The girl was about his age maybe younger and wore a red and black waistcoat over a white shirt, a black bowtie hung around her neck. She was pretty but in a different way to most of the bartenders Link had come across. It was like she was holding he own skin and features with distain. In just a few seconds her face, like a light switching on, turned utterly relaxed.

"I just wasn't expecting anyone this soon," she took her hair down and leaned on the bar. "Father told me someone would be coming to ask questions I just wasn't expecting…"

"Someone so young?" Link asked having gotten pretty sick of talking about his age. To think when he got promoted he thought people might stop treating him like a stupid child.

"Sure…" she smiled mischievously, her lip twitching at the last minute.

Link's face hadn't moved an inch, "What's your name miss?"

She laughed, "So formal, you're nothing like the other blues I've met. I'll tell you my name just promise not to laugh."

"Sure," Link said.

"Zelda, I know it's a pretty ancient name. Any chance I might get yours Mr. Detective…" she leaned further forwards to read the badge on the bar, "…Green?"

"Green will do fine," Link flipped to his questions. "When did you first start working here?"

"Oh only a few months ago," she said rolling her eyes. "I spent a little too much on a friend of mine and father got real mad. Who knew an apartment could cost so much? And can you even believe that? Me? A job? I'd rather sooner die, but it isn't so bad, I get to meet quite a few nice men, with money."

"How well did you know Miss Elizabeth?"

"Liz was great, super nice to me when I got here. Working was hard and I was messing up ALL the time. She helped me clean up all my screw ups and now I'm actually not too bad at serving drinks. I was super sorry to hear she'd died."

Link found his eyes distracted by her fingers making circles on the dark oak surface of the bar before snapping them back quickly to the words on his page.

"Did anything odd happen before she went missing… maybe she was acting strange in some way?"

Zelda regarded him for a few moments, the same alluring smile spread across her face like the morning news. Link tried to ignore the thumping of his heart and the tightening of his grip around the pencil. It was a mixture of emotions, a pressure pot of steam screeching from his fingertips.

"Not sure," she said biting a corner of her lip. "We'd fallen out a little before she left. You know did I ever mention how cute you are?"

Link felt his patience burn away. He couldn't stand girls like this and he'd come across way too many working through the whole sewer of corrupt rich. But more than anything he couldn't stand the fact Zelda was trying to act like she was one of those airhead rich girls.

"That's it," Link slammed down the notepad. "This isn't getting anywhere. I'm sure you practiced the act a thousand times but it's time to drop it. I'm up into my eyeballs in lies and I can't take another night of it."

There was a moment of genuine shock on her eyes, a window into the person before the character took over again. "How dare you! I'll let you know my father will have you out of the department before you can even utter another-"

"Look I know your father is a traditionalist, the type who wants his daughter married not working in a bar, especially a bar in an area where the life expectancy means I should be dead in the next few minutes. I know from the other employees that you're the best bartender they've ever seen and from your boss that you're hard working, not a spoiled brat. And I see that little twitch you get every time you say the word "father" in that way, which gives away you hate saying it as much as I hate hearing it."

She began to speak again but Link cut her off fast, "I know both you and Elizabeth were getting involved in the hacktivists at PROXYMA. Work with me here, I can find her."

For a moment Zelda's face remained mannequin still, staring back it him. Though Link knew only seconds were passing it felt as though the drumming rain in the back was slowing down. Her vibrant green eyes explored him, scrutinizing every pore in his face, every hair on his head, searching his own for answers Link wouldn't betray. Then like the rain washing over the windscreen of a car, the persona lifted. The character that had been practiced for hours and hours in front of the mirror burned away like a paper mask.

She sighed rolled her eyes and tied her hair back, "Let's just get one think straight I'm not a part of PROXYMA, I don't know a thing about hacking or blowing up corporate buildings and I'm not about to start learning now. What I'm good at is reading people and getting information. From what I've heard you're not so bad yourself."

Link shifted to the other side of his chair. His arms felt useless hanging by his side so he leaned on the bar. "What did you hear?"

Zelda laughed, "My father raved about you a few nights in a row, Detective Linklon Green. I think he was just glad to not have another drunkard on the forces... Then your name started to pop up now and then in the underground. That never happens with the police unless they get involved with high end corruption. Only weird thing is ever single report says your straight and it seems that way talking to you now. Most of the honest ones learn fast to keep their heads down or to dive a little into the underworld. Yet here you are still making waves. The only question left one everyone's minds is why?"

They stared at each other for a few moments, a battle of who could show the least first. Rain continued to drum down on a skylight to the back making Link realize the music had cut and another few men had entered a stall to the far right.

Zelda finally broke her gaze and brought a bottle from the bar over to the men, leaving Link by the bar. For once the thoughts weren't about the case or the labyrinth of files he'd been through to try to understand the underworld. Another track came on, dark and moody.

When she returned he was ready. But before Link could speak Zelda cut through his breath of air like a shotgun blast.

"Look I don't give information freely but luckily you have something I want and you want something I know. We should play a game for it."

Link spat his bitter laughter across at her, "Or I could come back with a court order and a charge for obstruction of justice."

"Sure you could," Zelda said nonchalantly. "But unfortunately for you my old man wouldn't allow a family scandal. _Goddess_ _forgive_ it'd be bad for his career. All I'm asking for is that for every question you ask, I get to ask one in return. Scared you'll reveal something bad?"

"Fine, could be fun," Link settled back in his seat. "First I want to know—"

"Hold it," Zelda held up a hand. "That's not how we do things in this business. I serve you a drink then we talk."

Link shook his head, "I'm on duty."

"The door's always there if you don't want to ask," Zelda pointed casually to the two mechanical slabs.

He fought through the restraint and nodded.

She gave him what might have been the first genuine smile since he'd arrived and got out four bottles placing them lightly on the glazed bar. Honey, lemon, ginger juice went in a mixer with more elegance than Link had seen for some time. Then came the scotch held up high as it fell down in a beam. A few shakes away and it was in a glass in front of him looking more perfect then anything on those overblown adverts he couldn't escape.

Zelda looked at him expectantly a slight smile hinting at the edges of her lips. She knew it was good but Link still stared at it as though the class was filled with cyanide. He took a sip and felt the flavour rush over him like the raindrops on the window behind him. The story was the same as it had been every night, a dark cloud of scotch washing over him. Only this time the story didn't stay so dark, as the ginger and lemon fizzled brightly on his tongue.

All Link could do was tilt his head to the side in a new regard. A smile forming on his face unlike the one he practiced every night in the mirror for interrogation, but a pull against the ends of his mouth that he hadn't felt for some time.

He settled down even further, feeling that same excitement he always felt in questioning, just without the constant threat of death this time.

"So can I ask my questions now or do you want to interrupt me again?"

"Go ahead champ," she smiled.

"You said you weren't part of PROXYMA but you didn't talk about Miss Hulme. Did she have some kind of involvement with the group?"

"Look just call her Liz. She wasn't the sort to like formalities," Zelda watched carefully as he took another sip and sighed. "Liz was… well complicated to say the least. She wasn't a violent person but sure had the ability to cause a lot of damage and get herself into even more. Sure PROXYMA aren't the best when it comes to conventional ethics—"

"You mean that they're terrorists," Link interrupted.

"By definition maybe," Zelda shot a glare not inviting another word and continued. "But they had one pretty huge thing in common with her. Liz hated this city and everything behind it. Sometimes I feel like she kinda had a death wish; leaping at almost anything to hit into the corps regardless of the impact to herself. She was the sort of person not really suited to this world, a burning individual against big collective wash of nothing."

Link inched forwards across the bar, "Elaborate more, what was Liz doing before she went missing?"

"Ah but now it's my turn to ask you and swear you'll be honest. If I detect but a hint of bull this is over."

"Sure," Link spluttered through his last sip making her mischievous smile grow slightly wider this time.

"Let's see…" She studied him for a few seconds head to toe. "I know you applied almost immediately to the academy after arriving here from that small time ranch. A little farmer boy in the big time city, it must've been hard."

"Don't try to sympathise with me, you're wasting time."

Zelda's smiling expression didn't change, "What made you move her and join the force? Most people here would kill for a little fresh air and country."

"I wish there was a bigger reason for why I left it all behind but really I was just bored there," he relished her surprise at his honesty. "All my life was sorted for me and I just felt trapped. Even with all that _'fresh air'_ I felt like I was struggling to breathe. One day I couldn't take it anymore and got a one way ticket here like they do in the movies."

"I know what you mean…" she said softly.

"When I got here it felt like I traded one personal hell for another, the noise, the pollution, all that damn light. But worst was the violence, every day I would walk to my job and it'd be everywhere. I'd see people getting beaten up in the street, some dead body tied to a lamppost as a threat from a gang. There was just no end to the brutality, it screamed out at me from every corner. The force ended up as only place for me here, though it's hardly like I belong there either."

Link let himself be dragged into the silence between them, wondering if she could tell he'd missed out some petty important parts of the story.

"Alright fair answer," she folded her arms. "Shoot."

"What was Liz doing before she went missing?"

"I knew that was coming," Zelda said reluctantly. "Before the night she went missing Liz was freaking out about something."

"Gon on," Link snapped impatiently.

"She had gotten into some supercontinent files somehow—you know the corporation that sells itself on advancing a better humanity, whatever the hell that means. All she said about the files was that they were about some scheme and that the corps had gone too far this time. She was desperate to meet up with some cell from PROXYMA."

"That it?" Link said staring for any tell that Zelda was leaving anything out.

"I swear but ever since then PROXYMA has shut off completely, there's been almost zero noise from them. It's like they've gone underground the underground."

Link noted it down feeling the dread swell up inside him. There was one thing he knew, if a case had a corp involved, it was going to be a headache to uncover.

"Do you think supercontinent is involved in her disappearance?"

"If they've found her I don't think your case will stay a missing person one." Zelda replied grimly. "My turn right? You've already asked like three."

Link nodded.

"Your job must take you to some dark places. And with so much corruption around you must start to get frustrated at the world" her stare turned heavy. "Have you ever considered going outside the law?"

"No," Link said flatly.

"Yuhuh, the law is just too important right?"

"I'll never take money if that's what you're asking, no matter how much it is. I do this for a reason, I want to get to the bottom of it all, I want justice for these people. I don't do it to line my pockets or go to expensive clubs."

"And what would you do to get that justice?"

"Anything," he said, words coming out like a rolling barrel that he couldn't stop.

Zelda now had two hands firmly placed on the bar, "Even if getting justice meant going outside the law?"

Link stopped, "There's always a way to get justice on the books."

"If you really think that then you're just as moronic as the others."

Link scowled across at her in disbelief, "So just because I don't take bribes and I don't beat my suspects half to death that makes me a moron."

"No you're a moron because you trust the laws and because you trust the institution behind them. It's impossible to get justice in a department where half the cops are bought off by corporations and the other half is bought off by the gangs. And even if you could hold up these laws you hold so sacred, let me ask you who really makes the rules in this city?"

Link thought for a second but he already knew he was on the back foot. "First off I don't think that trying to stop murder every day is such a bad rule to stick by, even if it's held up by some high end lobbyist. As for my colleagues… You think I don't know how many of them take money to turn the other way? Just because they don't enforce the law doesn't mean I can't."

"I think you know they're not clean but I don't think you know how hard they work against the law and justice. Take your partner—"

"I know that Groose isn't the cleanest—" Link began.

"No!" she hissed as loudly as she could. "No you don't know how far he goes. Groose isn't even a detective most of the time. Want to know what his real occupation is?"

Link stayed silent, listening to his breath quicken in pace.

"He's in information business same as me, only he's a little more direct with his methods. Your buddy tortures people to get information to whichever weasel pays him to."

"You don't know that," Link began.

"You know I'm right I can see it on your face."

He stared directly at her, expecting to see a gleeful smile or a glint of victory in her eyes. Nothing came. The only emotion spread across her face was desperation. For the first time since arriving here everything was on the table, she looked small and afraid. Link wasn't staring at a character anymore.

"I'm going to find her," Link said firmly. "You can either work with me here, or I can head straight back to the swamp of a department and try to fish for scraps that will get me nowhere."

"Work with you?" Zelda just grinned. "Looks like we're finally getting somewhere detective."

Rain pattered on the window to the back, as Link enjoyed the last drops of his drink.

* * *

 **Never thought I'd be writing a modern day LoZ story but here we are.**

 **I wrote this after finishing a game called the 'red strings club' and I just got inspired by the music and atmosphere of the world it created. It really has nothing to do with the game's story but there was just this rich tension to the conversations in the game that I loved. I wasn't even planning this to be a story it just kinda turned out that way.**

 **Though this isn't going to be a full length fanfic, I'm currently working on one at the moment. That should be coming out in the next few weeks I won't put a timestamp on the first one but my aim is to be more disciplined with my next story because I can get pretty lazy sometimes.**

 **I've already written another snapshot chapter of this world but I haven't edited it yet. I plan to do add maybe another two to this story.**

 **Be sure to let me know what you think.**

 **Thanks for reading :)**


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